International
School History - International Baccalaureate - MYP History
MYP4
Last
update -
13 June 2018
Unit 4 - Lesson 4 - Tom
Paine's opposition to the execution of Louis XVI
[Speech in the French
National Convention. 1792.]
CITIZEN PRESIDENT: My
hatred and abhorrence of absolute monarchy are
sufficiently known; they originated in
principles of reason and conviction, nor, except
with life, can they ever be extirpated; but my
compassion for the unfortunate, whether friend
or enemy, is equally lively and sincere.
I voted that Louis should
be tried, because it was necessary to afford
proofs to the world of the perfidy, corruption
and abomination of the French government.
Nevertheless I am inclined
to believe that if Louis Capet had been born in
an obscure condition, had he lived within the
circle of an amiable and respectable
neighborhood, at liberty to practise the duties
of domestic life, had he been thus situated I
cannot believe that he would have shown himself
destitute of social virtues; we are, in a moment
of fermentation like this, naturally little
indulgent to his vices, or rather to those of
his government; we regard them with additional
horror and indignation; not that they are more
heinous than those of his predecessors, but
because our eyes are now open, and the veil of
delusion at length withdrawn; yet the lamentably
degraded state to which he is actually reduced
is surely far less imputable to him than to the
constituent assembly which, of its own
authority, without consent or advice of the
people, restored him to the throne.
I was present at the time
of the flight or abdication of Louis XVI., and
when he was taken and brought back. The proposal
of restoring to him the supreme power struck me
with amazement; and although at that time I was
not a citizen, yet as a citizen of the world, I
employed all the efforts that depended on me to
prevent it….
The people have beat down
royalty, never, never to rise again; they have
brought Louis Capet to the bar, and demonstrated
in the face of the whole world, the intrigues,
the falsehood, corruption, and rooted depravity
of his government: there remains then only one
question to be considered, what is to be done
with this man?
For myself, I freely
confess that when I reflect on the unaccountable
folly that restored the executive power to his
hands, all covered as he was with perjuries and
treason, I am far more ready to condemn the
constituent assembly than the unfortunate
prisoner, Louis Capet.
But, abstracted from every
other consideration, there is one circumstance
in his life which ought to cover or at least to
palliate a great number of his transgressions,
and this very circumstance affords the French
nation a blessed occasion of extricating itself
from the yoke of its kings without defiling
itself in the impurities of their blood.
It is to France alone, I
know, that the United States of America owe that
support which enabled them to shake off an
unjust and tyrannical yoke. The ardor and zeal
which she displayed to provide both men and
money were the natural consequences of a thirst
for liberty. But as the nation at that time,
restrained by the shackles of her own
Government, could only act by means of a
monarchical organ, this organ, whatever in other
respects the object might be, certainly
performed a good, a great action.
Let then these United
States be the safeguard and asylum of Louis
Capet. There, hereafter, far removed from the
miseries and crimes of royalty, he may learn
from the constant aspect of public prosperity,
that the true system of government consists in
fair, equal and honorable representation. In
relating this circumstance, and in submitting
this proposition, I consider myself as a citizen
of both countries.
I submit it as a citizen of
America who feels the debt of gratitude which he
owes to every Frenchman. I submit it also as a
man who cannot forget that kings are subject to
human frailties. I support my proposition as a
citizen of the French republic, because it
appears to me the best, the most politic measure
that can be adopted.
As far as my experience in
public life extends, I have ever observed that
the great mass of the people are invariably
just, both in their intentions and in their
objects; but the true method of accomplishing
that effect, does not always show itself in the
first instance. For example, the English nation
has groaned under the despotism of the Stuarts.
Hence Charles the Ist lost his life; yet Charles
the IId was restored to all the full plenitude
of power which his father had lost. Forty years
had not expired when the same family strove to
re-establish their ancient oppression; so the
nation then banished from its territories the
whole race. The remedy was effectual: the Stuart
family sunk into obscurity, confounded itself
with the multitude, and is at length extinct.
The French nation has
carried her measures of government to a greater
length. France is not satisfied with exposing
the guilt of the monarch, she has penetrated
into the vices and horrors of the monarchy. She
has shown them clear as daylight, and forever
crushed that system; and he whoever he may be,
that should ever dare to reclaim those rights,
would be regarded not as a pretender, but
punished as a traitor.
Two brothers of Louis Capet
have banished themselves from the country, but
they are obliged to comply with the spirit and
etiquette of the courts where they reside.
The history of monarchy in
France was a system pregnant with crimes and
murders, cancelling all natural ties, even those
by which brothers are united. We know how often
they have assassinated each other to pave a way
to power. As those hopes which the emigrants had
reposed in Louis XVI. are fled, the last that
remains rests upon his death, and their
situation inclines them to desire this
catastrophe, that they may once again rally
round a more active chief, and try one further
effort under the fortune of the ci-devant
Monsieur and d’Artois. That such an enterprise
would precipitate them into a new abyss of
calamity and disgrace, it is not difficult to
foresee; yet it might be attended with mutual
loss, and it is our duty, as legislators, not to
spill a drop of blood when our purpose may be
effectually accomplished without it. It has been
already proposed to abolish the punishment of
death, and it is with infinite satisfaction that
I recollect the humane and excellent oration
pronounced by Robespierre on that subject in the
constituent assembly. This cause must find its
advocates in every corner where enlightened
politicians and lovers of humanity exist, and it
ought above all to find them in this assembly.
Bad governments have
trained the human race, and inured it to the
sanguinary arts and refinements of punishment;
and it is exactly the same punishment that has
so long shocked the sight and tormented the
patience of the people which now in their turn
they practise in revenge on their oppressors.
But it becomes us to be
strictly on our guard against the abomination
and perversity of such examples. As France has
been the first of European nations to amend her
government, let her also be the first to abolish
the punishment of death, and to find out a
milder and more effectual substitute.
In the particular case now
under consideration, I submit the following
propositions,—1st. That the national convention
shall pronounce the sentence of banishment on
Louis and his family: 2d. That Louis Capet shall
be detained in prison till the end of the war,
and then the sentence of banishment to be
executed.
